IDC's 2016 global IoT Decision Maker Survey finds Australian organizations moving past pilot projects and toward scalable deployments. “Risk of inaction outweighs risk of action”

04 Oct 2016

SYDNEY, Australia, Thursday 29^th, 2016 – Initial results from the International Data Corporation (IDC) 2016 Global IoT Decision Maker Survey show that the market is pivoting away from proof of concept projects to scalable Internet of Things (IoT) deployments that are incorporating cloud, analytics, and security capabilities.

In the Australian context, IDC survey over 200 organizations, yielding some key findings from the 2016 survey:

• IoT is considered the second biggest digital transformation initiative in Australia after cloud transition.
• 38% of organizations surveyed have launched IoT solutions, with an additional 46% looking to deploy in the next 12 months.
• 60% of respondents see IoT as strategic to their business as a means to compete more effectively.
• More than 72% of the organizations feel that IoT is very important or extremely important - specially to drive the strategic agenda of the company, for instance, with respect to improving productivity or reducing costs. While security/privacy and upfront/ongoing costs are top concerns for decision makers, concerns about the technology and the lack of relevant skills are inhibiting the deployment of IoT solutions

67% Australian organizations have outlined security policies and protocols when implementing their IoT strategy. Improving productivity, reducing costs, and improvements in internal decision making are seen as top benefits of an IoT solution. This highlights an internal and operational focus by organizations over the short term as opposed to external, customer-facing benefits.

"Setting strategies, finding budgets, and supporting IoT solutions have contributed to an ongoing tussle between line of business executives (LOBs) and CIOs. In Australia, the line of business and the C-Suite are driving the IOT direction" said Hugh Ujhazy, Associate Vice President of IOT and Telecoms for APeJ. “IT departments remain significant contributors but the business outcomes are overwhelming the technology choices.”

"This year we see confirmation that vendors who lead with an integrated cloud and analytics solution are the ones who will be considered as critical partners in an organization’s IoT investment," added Sabhari Balasubramanian, Research Manager, Mobility and Internet of Things. "We also note that network and traditional IT hardware vendors are slipping down the charts, as analytics and device/component manufacturers makes strides in customers' minds."

This year’s edition of IDC's Global IoT Decision Maker Survey was conducted in July and August 2016 and includes over 4,500 (WW Total) respondents from more than 25 countries worldwide, spanning a wide array of industries (including manufacturing, retail, utilities, government, health, and finance).

The purpose of the survey is to gain insights from enterprise IT and business decision makers about their perception of IoT as well as their early deployments or plans for deployment of IoT solutions. The survey covered responses from enterprises where respondents were moderately to very familiar with the term ‘Internet of things’ and managed a minimum of 100 employees. Respondents are required to be involved in IT and/or business decisions at their company.